(CNN) - After months of campaigning almost exclusively in New Hampshire, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman said Sunday it wasn’t a setback to his campaign that the state’s largest newspaper chose to endorse another candidate for the GOP presidential nomination.

The New Hampshire Union Leader backed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich Sunday, saying he wasn’t the “perfect candidate,” but the one best positioned to enact necessary changes.
Huntsman said on “Fox News Sunday” the endorsement was a sign of how unpredictable the race for the 2012 GOP nomination has become.

“You know, it once again it proves how fluid and unpredictable New Hampshire is,” Huntsman said. “People are just beginning to pay attention and coalesce around the candidates. I mean, a month ago for Newt Gingrich to have been in the running to capture the Manchester Union Leader endorsement would have been unthinkable. I think it reflects, more than anything else, the fluidity, the unpredictability of the race right now.”

Huntsman said his campaign was strong despite the paper’s nod toward Gingrich.

“We are in a solid position here in New Hampshire,” Huntsman said. “But you've got to have a message that resonates with the voters here. We have a message that resonates. We have a background that people have looked out. It's a background that speaks to job creation and the ability to expand our economy and a background that speaks to addressing the trust deficit as well.”

His place in the back of the presidential pack may actually be a help, Huntsman said.

“The people of this great state, they love an underdog. And I am an underdog right now. If you can be an underdog and have a message that begins to connect with people on the ground, you can make things happen.”

soundoff(3 Responses)

Karen

I am wondering why the press has not followed up on some of the issues the Jon Huntsman has brought up in discussions. 1. His statement on the last debates regarding "term limits" in Washington.. GREAT IDEA. 2. The only candidate who refused to sign the Norquist tax pledge. A man strong enough not to be beholding to a lobbyist? Doesn't that stand for something? Why has the press virtually ignored these ideas? I'd like to know more about this man's ideas and qualifications.

November 27, 2011 11:40 am at 11:40 am |

Lynda/Minnesota

"His place in the back of the presidential pack may actually be a help, Huntsman said."

Not that it matters to me one way or another who the eventual GOP nominee will be, but it probably doesn't bode well for Jon Huntsman when he is forced to dredge up Michele Bachmann silly talk in defense of his own campaign strategy. Bachmann is also on record for stating that being in the back of the pack will help her as well. Huntsman is fast becoming an embarrassment ... to himself anyway.